After learning some ASL-IRC ropes along with Bill Carrol, (sp? You back yet, Bill?), in a "rehearsal" game of Fighting Withdrawal, and then a battle for the hilltop in "The Taking of Takrouna", Warren Smith, (hi, Warren!), graciously took me on in a non-official, "merely" for fun, play of A42, "Commando Hunt", (1992 Annual), with Warren taking the Japs and myself directing the Australians -- 10 commando squads vs 10 commando squads, slogging/slugging in dense PTO jungle, all lightly armed with lmg's and Lmtr's (light mortars), with the simple VC of *he who kills most, wins.* :)
SETUP:
Instead of waiting for the Jap setup and initial move, I made the Australian off-board setup during the days before we met to begin play. When Warren set up and moved, I discovered we had nearly "reverse mirrored" our troops, with the Japs being heavy on the west side and moving down from the north, while the Australians were heavy on the east side and moving up from the south. So I decided to leave my setup alone, although we agreed, later, that though my "blind" setup might have been more realistic, the gamer's choice would not have left those weak units out on the west flank to face the strength of the Japanese setup. The following is derived from short notes taken on 3 x 5 index cards, (cleaned-up and expanded ), to give an idea of what happened, turn-by-turn.....
Jap 1: Ah, I'm east-heavy, Japs west-heavy. Oz 1: Lmtr squads exchange fire, Q row, Lev 1 locations, 7 range, NE.
Jap 2: Japs mortar again, malf's mtr, but IFP breaks Ozzies. ASAN, NE. Warren's "loners" retrograde, mine in trouble.
Oz 2: Japs hit my 248 in board center with Lmtr, 248 rolls boxcars on the MC, (Japs:1, Oz: 0)...my HS shows up at the Pearly Gates looking like pincushions. Japs controlling west hills, (my few men on Hill 526 not really contesting it), and the Australians controlling the east hills, (so far). I've got a 9-2 stack up on Lev3 of Hill 804 to make quick moves through OG on Hill 526 a dangerous proposition.
Jap 3: Warren concentrates on movement -- and not about to challenge my 9-2's ability to hit that 526 OG terrain.
Oz 3: Japs disable Lmtr...more movement...Hill 804 fight setting up, and I decide it is time for 9-2 to leave their perch.
Jap 4: Due to a typo on Warren's part, he sustained a step-reduction to one of his 448's, (one of the problems of typing, typing, typing, alas...can't catch all the errors.) Warren hit and backed off, with the largely inconclusive fighting involving, among others, his 10-1/448 and my 8-1/lmg458.
Oz 4: The closest Japs on Hill 804 volbrk to HS's to get away from my boys, especially the one Warren calls "Mr. 9-2". In this way, he keeps his lead intact and manuevers for better position, and/or stalls for time while the forces to the west move up.
Jap 5: A Jap CC ambush on Hill 804 backfires, because Warren rolls boxcars -- and my boys gladly withdraw to safer territory! (Warren not pleased.)
Oz 5: Lousy shooting by both sides, so the snipers took over. JSAN breaks 458 slogging along stream from the west, while ASAN hits dismantled Lmtr/448. My Lmtr team on Hill 801 reveals a Jap 238 on 804 poking about in the dense jungle across the stream-ravine separating the hills. More or less on top of Hill 804, my 9-2/lmg458/lmg458 puts a casualty reduction on a Jap 448 and then kills it in CC.
Jap 6: A Jap 238 HS, and a 9-1, (in different hexes), go *Banzai!* and charge at my Lmtr squad, in Q2/Lev1, (took a while to self-rally them and get them back up there), after the latter got "smoked" from a Jap Lmtr on Hill 536, to the west. The Jap 238 and my Lmtr/458 were mutually eliminated in HtH CC, (and then the 9-1 Jap leader, who wasn't involved in the CC, sheathed his sword and slogged back to the main path. I scoffed at this leader, but Warren thought it was all very "handily" done, of course.)
Oz 6: My 9-2 killer stack suffered 50% break/DM, trying to close on the Japs scooting backward from us on Hill 804, and my last squad in the west was eliminated for failure to rout/mandatory No Quarter.
Jap 7: Score: Japs 5, Australians 3. My cx8-1 fails to rally people, while Warren backs off some more, straightens his line on Hill 804, consolidates, works at bringing up the rest of his gang through the "lousy terrain", to reinforce 804.
Oz 7: Trying to close with the Japs, (again). This time I lose a 8-0 leader that was created earlier in CC, (PBF/16fp). "Mr. 9-2", down to a lmg458, sees his squad get pinned, whilst an adjacent 248 stays GO in the face of another 16fp, (and a Jap lmg malf's). And I do nada with two puny fp2's in the AFPh.
Note: At about this time, I offered to concede the game, if Warren were going to boogie to HQ with his body count/6-3 CVP lead. I had an erroneous idea that he could run offboard, (which Warren later informed me could not be done...he was very patient with my rusty gears, I must admit). He claimed my spot was "not that bad", and then I thought that maybe my leader stacks had a slim chance of catching enough of his leaderless stacks. So, Warren...you kept me in the game!
Jap 8: Japs repair one lmg, disable another, and move back slowly, (which surprises me...did my whining soften you up, Warren?) I was expecting to see a lot of double-timing.
Oz 8: A what, 3rd, 4th? -- attempt to close with the Japs on Hill 804 ends up with "Mr. 9-2" pinned/neutralized, and his men ineffectual in AFPh, but over the last player turn or two I have HoB'd a couple of heroes into existence, plus a lmg458 went Fanatic. This latter group, led by my 8-1, destroys a 9-1/348r/238/238 in CC, (Oz takes a 9-6 lead!)
Jap 9: Warren strikes back, killing one hero with PBF fire (via wound severity), and driving my Fanatic lmg458 into Berserk! status! (So, what's a Fanatic, Berserk Australian Commando look like, I wonder?!!!) He then Banzai's! his 10-1/malf'd lmg/448/238 into this mess, and all but the 238 are wiped out by TPBF/FPF, but another FPF breaks my 8-1, wounds my remaining hero, and the Berserk/Fanatic lmg458 is cut in half. Another *Banzai!* 238 survives PBF fire from my 9-2/458/248, while a non-Banzaing 238 gets cut down in jungle by double-breaking in face of 1F/S1F, (cx12fp/cx6fp). My 8-1 is eliminated because while the Banzai! was going on, Warren had moved a 348r into a flanking position, (eliminating rout path).
Bloodletting on Hill 804:
Comments:
To run, or not to run? An observer claimed that gaining a slim lead could result in a player taking the points and running. This is why I was willing to concede, but when Warren later pointed out that one cannot run offboard, I saw he was in a risky position, if he tried to run off Hill 804, with his lead, and try to make it across the OG and streams to the west, (with my leaders bearing down). Or he could have moved through dense jungle along my flank(s), but it still would have ended up a shootout. It would all depend on how the setups and resultant firefights left both sides positioned. He ended up behind, when the 8-1/2 heroes/fan*lmg458 won a CC, and then a Jap player is faced with the prospect of chasing down the Australians and taking them on in HtH CC's -- which are very nasty affairs that often backfire, in my limited experience with the Japanese. Anyway, thanks again, Warren -- I suppose when we play an AREA/Ladder game, you're going to kick my butt!
Paul J. "lucky lately" Venard